Today we are in the age of Digital Convergence seeing a major change in the way digital electronics systems are designed. Examples of such convergence can be seen in Microsoft's Xbox (From IT/Games to Home Entertainment), Apple's iPhone (From IT to Telecommunication/Entertainment), and Sony's Vaio (From Consumer Electronics to IT). This innovative look at technology has redefined road maps and business objectives of major corporations.

The title of this post is in fact a web-page created by us to highlight and educate folks in the semiconductor industry about the transformations that are happening in the way we try to design electronics and semiconductors. Our motivation is to avoid repetitions of many disasters we encounter in our interactions with the industry. We intend to highlight key aspects like design in HDL's, using HVL's and their importance, Importance of scripting languages and design automation and many other things.

Hardware design specialist Libelium opens a new community site for electronics enthusiasts offering a wide range of tutorials, cost-effective products, news, customer service and user-created hacks & recipes.

Libelium, a leading wireless and electronics innovator, announces the launch of the Cooking Hacks website. Drawing on the similarity between cooks exchanging recipes and engineers sharing hacks, the new website offers a wide range of fun resources for anyone keen on trying out electronics (and cooking). The website offers an affordable range of easy-to-use boards, modules and software downloads. It also offers tutorials and community facilities for sharing hacks and recipes. The site aims to make building electronic systems as straightforward as trying out recipes in the kitchen.

For more company information call +34 976 54 74 92 or visit http://www.libelium.com

The topic of "peer code review" is a widely discussed topic in the context of design verification. I remember the times very early in my career when my code was reviewed. There were lots of positives occasionally with some negatives which i have improved over time. What is that people look for in a code review and what is the value add? Is it the most easy and powerful way of hunting down issues and avoid reproducing them by educating people, that is too often neglected in favor of complex tools and methodologies which are never idiot-proof?

I still remember the comments from my first code reviewer who went on to say the following: "Peer code reviews are like speed bumps on the highway where the ultimate goal is not to impose a fine but for the prevention of speeding violations in general". Translating this to way we code is the ultimate benefit for the whole team. The significant gains are that the person whose code is being reviewed puts in that extra effort to check the missed signals in the sensitivity list and add default states in FSMs when they know their code is going to be put under the spotlight in front of their peers. Many potential bugs get fixed even before the code gets to the review committee. Furthermore, this is the right forum to ensure that people are following the coding guidelines that should be in place. Not only does the code owner gets feedback, the peers in the room generally apply the same lessons to their own code, resulting in an overall improvement and value add.

All said well, the main problem is always the time where code reviews consume significant resources and valuable productive time. In any organization, peer code reviews have to be part of the methodology, be it design or verification.

Self code review is probably more important!

A problem with any code review is the lack of specific targets and the right audience. As said above, in a peer code review people learn from each other however, it is generally not 100% clear what specific targets are to be achieved. Coding guidelines are the easy ones among the possible targets, but they should not be the only targets. Based on my experience, code reviews ideally should come with spec and verification plan reviews. The reviewed spec should be complete and clear enough to define how to assure its correct implementation. The code review plan should be a part of verification plan so that it is a part of the integrated solution to assure the implementation's correctness. Theoretically, the verification plan should include a complete set of conceptual properties to verify. This set should be complete enough to 100% assure the implementation's correctness. Some of the properties should be proven in code review and the rest should be proven with other methods. As an industry, we do not know how to create a theorectically complete spec, and we do not know how to create a theorectically complete verification plan. However, we should at least start taking some steps in the right direction.

From the open forum that happened at Infineon today it was made clear that the carved out wireless division will be a separate legal entity with a new name (that is being figured out). It was also told that all the acquired employees will be blue badge Intel employees with their own HR, Marketing and Sales team that will work independently. That's interesting!

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and IITs, the premier engineering colleges of India, have earlier joined hands to produce the world's largest repository of technical video lectures and web-based courses geared towards science and engineering students. The IIT and IISc faculty have recorded around 4,750 videos for this project till date and anyone, anywhere can watch the lectures online through YouTube at http://youtube.com/iit. [via] Digital Inspiration Technology Blog

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